Google and HHMI Janelia release the full map of the vinegar fly brain

A decade of work has resulted in the mapping of 166,000 neurons and 125 million synaptic connections, the largest brain map ever made.

Google Research, in partnership with the HHMI Janelia Institute, has published in the journal Cell the complete map of the central nervous system of a male vinegar fly. With 166,000 neurons and 125 million synaptic connections identified, it is the largest connectome ever established by the number of neurons mapped.

This work, carried out over a period of ten years, relies heavily on computer vision and machine learning techniques to reconstruct the architecture of the brain at the cellular level from electron microscopy images. The researchers see this as a pivotal step for connectomics, with expected spin-offs in basic neuroscience, but also in pharmacology and medicine in the long term.